Monday, October 07, 2013

A Short History of XP

(Why it’s going away and what to do about it.)

Windows
XP was released to the public in October of 2001.Being based on NT (New Technology) to replace
the Windows 95-98-ME lines, XP has been with us in one form or another for 12
years.It runs laptops, desktops, and workstations.
It’s used for gaming, word processing,
playing movies, browsing the Internet, programming and more.XP runs on modest hardware, from old Pentium
II’s to Core 2 Duo’s.It brought us some
major changes in security and features.Support for DVDs, high speed Internet connections, wireless connections,
memory card readers, USB, high definition video, new hard drive formats.

However,
three more versions of Windows have been released since then.Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8 are
those.Because of these newer versions
of Windows, extended support will end on April 8, 2014—after which no more
security patches or new support information will be provided.This means that there will be no more
security updates or patches for XP after that date.

Now
that XP is 12 years old, many existing flaws are well-known. Just not all of
them are well-known to Microsoft and The Bad Guys aren’t sharing.They are holding some flaws for when
Microsoft stops making patches for XP and will not fix any further existing
flaws.

XP
won’t stop working on April 8.But it
will be extremely vulnerable to being online.

If you
are using Windows, you should have a router between your computer and the
Internet no matter what version of Windows your computer is running.What a router does is act like a traffic cop,
determining what information goes to which computer and what information isn’t
allowed in to the network.In addition,
a router allows a wireless connection that your devices (such as laptops and
tablets) can use to get online.This is
different than the wireless connection a smartphone offers, such as 3G or 4G.

The
router also acts a firewall, keeping unauthorized access out of your
network.Yes, one computer counts as a
network.

XP
should be kept fully patched and updated.Flash and Java (if used) should be kept updated.Run your anti-virus and anti-malware at least
once a week and keep them up to date.

There
are a few options for dealing with XP.

Most
modern hardware can run an alternative OS called “Linux.”Linux is like a foundation and then people
have made their own versions for different uses.The main distributions (there are hundreds)
are a handful.I’ve been trying Ubuntu,
Mint and Descent|OS to see which I think will work out to replace XP.So far, Mint 15 Cinnamon is a strong
contender.Personally, I’ve been happy
with Mint’s performance and selection of software.Mint includes an office suite (word
processor, spreadsheet, presentation and more), web browser (Firefox), media
players (Winamp and VLC) and includes Flash and Java.

Because
Linux is based on Unix (an operating system for multi-user mainframes) it tends
to be very secure and difficult to infect with viruses and malware.To do updates, for example, you’ll need to
give Linux a password.Otherwise, the OS
won’t run the updates.With XP and an
Administrator account, XP assumes you are the one asking for the updates and
dutifully performs them.

An
example of the Mint 15 desktop.In the lower
left is the Menu button, much like the Start button in XP.In the lower right are system icons showing
volume, network status and other information.

Ubuntu
13 works well also.It uses a menu on
the left side of the screen to access programs and puts the ‘taskbar’ at the
top of the screen.

This is
the desktop from Descent|OS.The gold
star is the Menu button.Descent uses
both a dock on the left and a taskbar along the bottom.

These
all run on rather modest hardware, a Pentium 4 with 1 gigabyte of RAM will run
it well enough to perform common tasks, such as email, web browsing, word
processing.All come with Open Office or
Libre Office which is very much like Microsoft Office and is compatible with
Word’s file formats.My personal
favorite is Mint 15.

Windows
7 can still be found for sale, about $100 from Newegg.Running Win7 on older hardware can be
iffy.Lacking driver support for sound
cards, video cards, printers and other devices, Win7 can be good if some research
is done before hand.

If the
computer is question is older, has minimal mounts of RAM (random access memory,
RAM), or is just not up to doing the job anymore, it might be time to look at a
new computer.Some older Pentium4’s use
what is called DDR memory.DDR has been
around for a long time, as long as XP, and isn’t being made anymore.It’s hard to find and expensive.Other issues with older computers are video
(AGP and on-board systems, or VGA only), IDE hard drives and optical drives
(read only drives), USB 1.1 ports, and other issues might make a current
computer not worth the change of OS.

In that
case, it’s time for a “new” computer.Windows 8 adds some really good security features (Security Essentials
is built-in), ability to track the online activities of Users, Automatic
Updates (been around since XP), SmartScreen phishing scam filter, BitLocker to
encrypt your files and folders.Win8
also brings the Start Screen.Picture
below, the Start Screen places “apps” in one place.If there are more apps, it scrolls off to the
right.You can re-arrange the tiles (the
little squares) how you want and with Win8.1, you can change the size of the
tile, four choices.There is a tile that
takes you to the Desktop, where non-Metro programs reside.

Admittedly, there is a learning curve
involved in going to Windows 8.Learning
where the Control Panel is, places to change settings, how to get back and
forth between the Start and Desktop screens.

One thing I found that I didn’t
like is that Windows 8, if connected to the Internet, requires you to use an
email and password to log into to your computer.This can be avoided by not connecting to the
Internet until after the initial setup is complete.

Windows 8 is very much designed to
be used with a touch screen.Poking the
screen, swiping with your finger, and making gestures run to the computer.Yes, you can use a mouse to point and click
just like always.It takes a bit of
getting used to with aiming correctly.

Also, a touch screen equipped
computer does carry a premium over a non-touch computer.However, the premium isn’t as large as it
used to be, only about $50 to $100 dollars.

You can still find a few Windows 7
computers too.Win 7 is more like XP in
how it looks and feels.It will need the
usual anti-virus and anti-malware installed, such as Microsoft Security
Essentials and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.Most of these computers will be refurbished, meaning they have been
bought or leased by people or a business and used for a time.From a reputable retailer, these can be a
good choice to get hardware or software that you want or to get a good
deal.Most companies (Lenovo, Dell, and
online retailers like Newegg) have special sections for these.

The biggest downside to a
refurbished computer is that they usually only have a 90 day warranty.Also, if it’s an Open Box, you may be getting
problems from the previous owner.Some
have cosmetic blemished, dents and scratches, which don’t affect the
performance of the computer but give big discounts.

If a brand new computer is in
order, just about anything you buy will be up to the task of daily use.A new Windows 8 or 8.1 machine will run email
and web browsing and photo editing just fine.It doesn’t even have to be terribly expensive unless you are looking for
something that will run programs for a long time.An Intel Core i3 or AMD A6 has plenty of power
with 4 or more GBs of RAM.You’ll also
get a one warranty in most cases.

For more modest computing needs, a
tablet might be worth a look.Light, portable,
easy to use, resistant to viruses and malware, capable of taking pictures and
movies, running email, chat and games.

There are two options when dealing
with an XP computer:change the OS or
replace the computer.With Linux getting
better and the options in computers, now is a good time.But, you have till April to see how things
go.

I did have pictures of the Linux and Win8 desktops, but those have been removed due to formatting issues.